Goa officials’ Khanapur visit sparks off speculation

A visit by a team of three engineers from the Goa Irrigation Department to Kanakumbi in Khanapur taluk of Belagavi district, where the Mahadayi starts, led to speculation on social media about their alleged arrest, forcing the police to clarify.

The reason for the speculation was the secrecy maintained by the Goa officials; they did not inform their Karnataka counterparts about their visit.

When engineers from Belagavi went there along with the Khanapur police, the Goan officers had left.

Sources in the Department of Water Resources told

The Hindu that they had no idea what data the visiting officials collected. Probably, they were in Karnataka to verify rumours about resumption of work on the Kalasa-Banduri Nala Project, an engineer handling the Malaprabha basin works said, clarifying that there was no work going on.

Superintendent of Police, Belagavi, Sudheer Kumar Reddy said the police had taken the names of the visiting officials for their record.

Mr. Reddy said eight officers, led by Dinesh Mahale, executive engineer, Irrigation Department, visited the site. They were neither arrested nor detained, he clarified.